IBT Staff Reporter

Massachusetts on Wednesday banned drivers of trains, street cars and buses from using or even carrying cell phones at work, the toughest such measure imposed by a U.S. state transit agency.

Miami is one of the nation’s most well-rounded metropolitan destinations due to its arts scene, shopping, family attractions, and hotspot Miami Beach.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Thursday after the number of workers receiving jobless benefits hit another record and consumer bellwether Wal-Mart reported flat quarterly profits.

Sales of biodiesel at German petrol stations have come to a virtual halt, leading German bioenergy company Verbio said on Thursday.

Ford Motor Co executives face stockholders on Thursday to detail the automaker's plans to complete a turnaround without resorting to U.S. government help and steer clear of the industry collapse now swallowing rivals General Motors Corp and Chrysler.

The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits rose more than expected last week, government data showed on Thursday, pushed up by auto plant shutdowns related to Chrysler's bankruptcy.

S&P and Dow industrial stock index futures pared losses while Nasdaq futures turned positive on Thursday after analysts said weak jobless data was due to auto plant shutdowns related to Chrysler's bankruptcy.

Japan's power firms paid a combined 100.1 billion yen, or $1 billion, for carbon credits in the year that ended on March 31, their annual earnings reports showed, giving investors a rare glimpse into how much utilities are spending to offset their own carbon emissions.

Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives neared an agreement on a climate-change bill on Tuesday and said they expected to approve it soon.

Global coal miner Peabody Energy Corp has agreed with Australia's White Energy Coal Ltd to build a coal upgrading facility in the United States, and may buy up to a 15 percent stake in the Australian firm.

U.S. producer prices rose faster than expected in April, government data showed on Thursday, driven by a surge in food costs.

The German solar industry expects a recovery in the second half of this year after a wave of earnings showed on Thursday the sector has written off the first three months as the low point of 2009.

Oscar-winning film director Steven Spielberg was so frustrated that no videogames catered for all of his seven children that he did what a entertainment maestro might do -- made his own game.

U.S. electricity generators support compromises being reached by Democrats in the House of Representatives on proposed climate legislation, saying the changes would soften the impact on power bills.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Thursday after consumer bellwether Wal-Mart reported flat quarterly profits and as investors awaited producer price and jobless data for insight into the state of the economy.

Stock index futures pointed to a flat to lower open on Thursday after consumer bellwether Wal-Mart reported flat quarterly profits and as investors awaited producer price and jobless data for insight into the state of the economy.

China rejected claims it has manipulated yuan exchange rate policies to tilt trade flows against the United States, saying on Thursday that proposed legislation before the U.S. Congress could stoke protectionism.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc reported a roughly flat quarterly profit on Thursday as its low prices attracted shoppers amid a global economic slowdown, but the retailer's results were limited by a stronger U.S. dollar.

Sony Corp forecast a second straight year of losses as the global recession batters demand for consumer electronics but the Japanese company stopped short of taking any new aggressive steps to cut costs further.

Oil fell below $57 a barrel on Thursday after the International Energy Agency said global oil consumption will fall this year at the fastest rate since 1981.

British telecoms carrier BT cut its dividend and announced 15,000 further job losses on Thursday after a 1.58 billion pound ($2.4 billion) writedown tipped it into a quarterly loss and its pension costs almost doubled.

World stocks fell for a fourth straight day on Thursday while the low-yielding dollar and yen advanced as weak U.S. retail sales data prompted investors to cut back on risky assets after their nine-week rally.

Oil prices fell toward $57 a barrel on Thursday, after a 1-percent plus decline the previous day, as equity markets slipped, weighing on optimism for economic recovery and energy demand.

U.S. regulators have recommended filing a civil fraud suit against Countrywide Financial co-founder Angelo Mozilo for insider trading, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

Documents made public on Wednesday confirm former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson gave nine major banks no choice but to allow the government to take equity stakes in them as the Bush administration moved to address turmoil in the financial industry.

Sony Corp reported a second straight quarterly loss hurt by a firmer yen, sluggish sales and restructuring costs, and it projected another year of red ink during which it will close eight factories worldwide.

Asian stocks took a hit on Thursday as weak U.S. retail sales underscored the long road to economic recovery, prompting profit-taking on winning bets in equities, higher-yielding currencies and commodities over the past two months.

Britain's BT Group cut its dividend and said a further 15,000 jobs would go after a 1.58 billion pound ($2.4 billion) write down and restructuring at its Global Services unit drove it to a fourth quarter loss.

Shares in Rio Tinto Ltd dived as much as 12.5 percent to a three-week low on Thursday, partly as investors bet the miner would scrap or alter a planned $19.5 billion Chinese tie-up in favor of a discounted rights issue.